As part of its activities for Martin Luther King Week, Booth-Fickett Magnet School hosted 41 community leaders who spoke to the students. On Jan. 13, 1988, Michelle Hilliard escorted Diego A. Navarrette Jr., then the interim president of Pima Community College, to his speaking engagement. The upcoming Sunday had been declared Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Day by then-Gov. Evan Mecham. Establishment of an MLK Day in Arizona had been highly controversial. It was not until 1992 that voters approved an official state holiday.